Epilepsy and Dietary Supplements

Supplements

Bone Health

Bone loss in epilepsy patients is a common and serious problem, resulting in many medical issues. Since it may take many years before any symptoms appear, prevention and early detection of bone loss are very important to your medical care. This may involve:

• Adding calcium and vitamin D to your daily diet
• Periodic blood work
• Bone density scans to monitor the shape and thickness of your bones, and the amount of bone cells within them

Calcium

Calcium is an important element in the body, so important that you have more calcium in your body than any other mineral. Calcium is a necessary part of bone formation, development and repair. The majority of calcium in the body is stored within bones, while the rest is in the blood and the body’s other fluids. Abnormal calcium levels may result in major health problems. Both hypocalcemia (low calcium levels), and hypercalcemia (high calcium levels) can cause seizures.

The main sources of calcium are dairy products, such as milk, yogurt and ice cream. Green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli and kale, canned sardines and shellfish are also good sources of calcium.

Initially, low calcium levels may not give any warning signs. However, as the level decreases, a person may feel confused and have hallucinations, memory loss and depression. Because of calcium’s importance in muscle movement and the function of the nervous system, hypocalcemia can cause muscle aches, spasms, stiffening of the muscles, and tingling sensations in the face, mouth, lips, fingers and toes.

Low calcium levels can also cause several types of seizures, including: tonic-clonic seizures, categorized by whole body shaking and loss of consciousness; focal muscle seizures, during which a set of muscles contract against a person’s will; and absence seizures, during which a person appears to be staring off into space.

Certain anti-seizure medications can contribute to lowering calcium levels, especially when taken daily for a long time period. This happens when the medication makes the liver work harder than usual, and it causes the elimination of the calcium deposits from the bone, leading to what is known as “brittle bones,” “bone loss” or “osteoporosis.”

Folic Acid

Supplementation with folic acid on a daily basis is important for both women as well as men. The vitamin named “folic acid” (also known as folate) is an important part of the production of blood cells, of the function of some nerves and to help prevent heart disease. Low levels (deficiency) of folic acid can be the cause of intrauterine growth delay, inherited malformations, miscarriages and neural tube defects in women, and heart disease in both men and women.

For patients who have epilepsy, this is especially important since some seizure medicines can cause low levels of folic acid by changing the way it is absorbed in the body. Patients who take more than one seizure medicine may be advised to take higher doses of folic acid Babies born to women who did not get enough folic acid early in their pregnancies are more likely to have birth defects, especially a type called neural tube defects, which affect the brain and spinal cord. The most well-known of these is spina bifida, in which the spinal column is not completely closed. By the time a woman knows for sure that she is pregnant, it may be too late to prevent these defects.

Folic acid should be added to your daily diet, either as food or as a supplement, starting in the teenage years for women, and young adulthood for men with epilepsy. Some doctors recommend up to 4 mg per day for patients who have been taking daily anti-seizure medications for many years. Speak with your doctor for more information.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a necessary part in the process of proper breakdown and use of calcium. Because of this, vitamin D deficiency caused or worsened by daily use of anti-seizure medications for a long time can make the bones very soft and brittle, causing them to break more easily. Adding vitamin D to your daily diet can prevent this. In addition, patients taking anti-seizure medications should increase their calcium intake every day. Exposure to sunlight is a natural way to speed up the body’s ability to produce vitamin D.